course

A sequence of events.

Adverb

  1. Ellipsis of of course.
    • "Course it's mighty hard to tell till we've put out a few traps," said the former, "but it looks to me like we've struck it lucky." - 1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:
    • Course, my home wasn't exactly in Harlem […] - 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Tell a Green Man Something”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 3 (1928–1935: The Big Apple), page 209:

Forms

'course

Related

nom de course

Noun

  1. A sequence of events.
    • The normal course of events seems to be just one damned thing after another.
    • Tilehurst would in the ordinary course have caught him up and they would have progressed companionably wheel by wheel for as far as their way lay together, discussing the simpler aspects of Tapsfield existence. - 1934,...

    1. A normal or customary sequence.

      • The course of true love never did run smooth. - c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the...
      • Day and night, / Seedtime and harvest, heat and hoary frost, / Shall hold their course. - 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd...

    2. A programme, a chosen manner of proceeding.

    3. Any ordered process or sequence of steps.

      • There is but one course for me to follow: I'LL MOIDER THE BUM! - 1958 September 6, Weasel While You Work, spoken by the Barnyard Dawg:

    4. (education) A learning programme

      • Her course will be ‘Communication Studies with Theatre Studies’: God, how tedious, how pointless. - 1992 August 21, Edwina Currie, Diary:
      • Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University...

    5. (education) A learning programme

      a series of lectures or lessons in a particular subject

      • I need to take a French course.

      Synonyms: class

    6. (education) A learning programme

      (UK, Ireland, Philippines) an educational programme at a college or university leading to an academic degree or vocational qualification.

      • What's your course in university? —Business studies. And you?
      • During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all...

    7. (especially in medicine) A treatment plan.

      • Miss Clark, alarmed at her increasing stoutness, was doing a course of what is popularly known as banting. - 1932, Agatha Christie, The Thirteen Problems:

    8. (cooking) A stage of a meal.

      • We offer seafood as the first course.

    9. The succession of one to another in office or duty; order; turn.

      • He appointed […] the courses of the priests. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Chronicles 8:14:
  2. A path that something or someone moves along.
    • His illness ran its course.

    1. The itinerary of a race.

      • The cross-country course passes the canal.

    2. A racecourse.

    3. The path taken by a flow of water; a watercourse.

    4. (sports) The trajectory of a ball, frisbee etc.

    5. (golf) A golf course.

    6. (nautical) The direction of movement of a vessel at any given moment.

      • The ship changed its course 15 degrees towards south.

    7. (navigation) The intended passage of voyage, such as a boat, ship, airplane, spaceship, etc.

      • A course was plotted to traverse the ocean.

    8. (India, historical) The drive usually frequented by Europeans at an Indian station.

      • It was curious to Oakfield to be back on the Ferozepore course, after a six months' interval, which seemed like years. How much had happened in these six months! - 1853, William Delafield Arnold, Oakfield; or,...
  3. The lowest square sail in a fully rigged mast, often named according to the mast.
    • Main course and mainsail are the same thing in a sailing ship.
  4. Menses.
    • The bleeding body signifies as a shameful token of uncontrol, as a failure of physical self-mastery particularly associated with woman in her monthly "courses". - 2018, Gail Kern Paster, The Body Embarrassed, Cornell...
  5. A row or file of objects.
    • On a building that size, two crews could only lay two courses in a day.

    1. (masonry) A row of bricks or blocks.

    2. (roofing) A row of material that forms the roofing, waterproofing or flashing system.

    3. (textiles) In weft knitting, a single row of loops connecting the loops of the preceding and following rows.

  6. One or more strings on some musical instruments (such as the guitar, lute or vihuela): if multiple, then closely spaced, tuned in unison or octaves and intended to be played together.

Origin

From Middle English cours, from Old French cours, from Latin cursus (“course of a race”), from currō (“run”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”). Doublet of cursus and cour.

Forms

courses

Hyponyms

bird course crash course due course massive open online course

Derived

access course aftercourse assault course back course belt course Bestuzhev course blocking course change course clerk of the course collision course confidence course conversion course core course correspondence course course authoring tool coursebook course-correct course correction course credit courseless courselike course load courseload coursemate

Verb

  1. To run or flow (especially of liquids and more particularly blood).
    • The oil coursed through the engine.
    • Blood pumped around the human body courses throughout all its veins and arteries.
    • Sudden anger rose in him. “What I’m looking for,” he barked, “is to be left in peace.” His voice trembled with a rage far bigger than her intrusion merited, the rage which shocked him whenever it coursed through his...
  2. To run through or over.
  3. To pursue by tracking or estimating the course taken by one's prey; to follow or chase after.
    • We coursed him at the heels. - c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  4. To cause to chase after or pursue game.
    • to course greyhounds after deer

Forms

courses coursing coursed

Derived

coursing joint